Ubi Soft is about to revisit Jordan Mechner's
classic Prince of Persia series with the release of an all new title that's
scheduled for release later this year. This Sands of Time will offer amazing
graphics while staying true to the spirit of the original games. Check inside as
several of the game's Art Director, Lead Engineer and Creative Director share
their thoughts on various aspects of Prince of Persia's production process.
Plus, you can take a look at the impressive new screenshots that have been
released.

Note: All screenshots and Q&A content within this article have been
supplied by Ubi Soft.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS with Animation Art Director Alex Drouin

Q:
In your opinion, what makes the Prince of Persia such a videogame legend?

A: Prince of Persia achieved a level of
realism with animations that blew away other games of that period. Animating
over a video sequence helped create a character that moved like a real human
being. Combining animations of such high quality with interesting level design
made for some extremely memorable games.

Q: Did you integrate these elements into
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time?

A: We worked to achieve the same 'believable'
quality with the animation. Yes, the Prince can perform some incredible,
superhuman moves, but we wanted those moves to look realistic, like they could
actually happen. And it's not just a few moves - we developed an incredible
array of movements that the Prince uses to explore the Palace, avoid traps, and
fight enemies.

Q: What games or movies influenced your
work?

A: We were definitely influenced by martial
arts moves like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Once Upon a Time in China, and
The One (to name just a few). Acrobatic stars like Jet Li and Jackie Chan were a
great source of inspiration for the super-agile Prince. Studying martial arts
(more than two years, in my case) also helped a great deal with the creation of
original fighting moves.

While we played (and played, and played) every
major game that came out during our development phase, we avoided taking too
much inspiration from them - since we're doing something new with the Prince of
Persia, we wanted to stay very fresh.

Q: Animations have always been a major
Prince of Persia strength - what can we expect from the new game?

A: The new animation system will enable us to
add some really amazing elements to the game. For example, physics effect is
used to animate secondary action and elements like hair, clothing, and wall
hangings. It provides an extra sense of life and movement to the hand-animated
characters and an otherwise static environment. Random details that deliver a
feeling of realism and sensuality to players will be evident throughout the
game.

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the
interaction with the environment in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time?

A: Basically, if you can see it, you can play
with it. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is all about the interaction
between the Prince and the environment - objects, walls, ropes, poles, beams,
ledges, curtains. Let's just say that we've created some pretty incredible moves
for a number of different situations. In addition, the Prince is affected by his
environment; for example, the wind affects his hair, his clothes, and even his
behavior.

Q: What major challenges did you encounter
in working toward the level of excellence that Prince of Persia fans will
expect? How did you address them?

A: The biggest challenge was to create a character that could make all of these
incredible, impossible, superhuman moves look believable. To succeed, we tested,
tested, and tested - until we were happy!
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS with Lead Engineer Claude Langlais

Q:
What engine are you using?

A: We're using an evolution of the JADE
engine, which was originally built by Ubi Soft's Project BG&E team - it
wowed everyone during E3 2002. After seeing what JADE could do, we knew it was
the right engine to use to achieve what we wanted for the game.

Q: Tell me about its capabilities and how
you take advantage of it.

A: JADE gives us intuitive, easy-to-use content authoring tools. We were able to
start with a strong basis in miscellaneous fields and concentrate on integrating
a lot of elements very quickly. Basically, it allows us to do short development
test cycles for optimal tweaking.

Q: Did you improve the engine to adapt it
to the development of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time?

A: We improved the existing animation system
by developing animation blending (and partial asynchronous blending) to make the
Prince's movements smooth and realistic. We also adapted the animation authoring
tools to ensure optimal quality, and created new special effects that made
possible some of the main features related to the Sands of Time.

Q: What kind of specific features were you
able to develop thanks to this engine?

A: One of the biggest features of the game,
which is the core of the design, was developed very early in the project. We
needed to make sure we could validate and fully test it in the game. I can't
talk about it yet, but rest assured that this feature will make the game a
worthy addition to the Prince of Persia series.

We also developed a number of features to
enhance the player's immersion in the game. For instance, we've included
transparent dynamic loading, so there's no more separate loading time in the
middle of the action! And we added lightmaps to enhance the visual quality and
ambience of the environments.

We wanted to create a dynamic environment in
which a player would evolve, so the Prince's clothes and hair react dynamically
to his movements and surroundings, and a wind simulation system affects
characters, drapes, bridges, etc.

In terms of AI, characters' AI can be tuned
thanks to the real-time behavior modification and tweaking capability of our
content authoring tools - yet another feature that showcases the power of the
JADE engine.

Q: The former Prince of Persia games were
developed mostly on PC: why did you choose to work on consoles first?

A: This game will appeal to a lot of different
players, so developing for consoles felt like the right choice. We think it will
reach players who love the original series, as well as a vast new audience who
will encounter the game through next-gen consoles. And with consoles, every unit
shipped has the same specifications, so we were able to focus on developing a
single configuration as opposed to the range of PC possibilities - so we know
that every player will experience the incredible level of immersion that a
Prince of Persia game promises.

Q: As part of Ubi Soft's Montreal studio,
do you collaborate with the Splinter Cell team? How?

A: While the two games don't use the same engine, we definitely exchange ideas
and concepts with the Splinter Cell team. For instance, we developed our
environment interaction system based on something done in Splinter Cell, and the
drapes in Splinter Cell were based on a constraint system originally developed
for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We all exchange ideas so we can develop
new features based on previous successes.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS with Creative Director Patrice Désilet

Q:
Can you tell us about some of the elements that will provide a feeling of total
immersion in the game? How about the camera system, for instance.

A: Three concepts drove camera development: liberty, transparency, and
aesthetic. In terms of liberty, the player can completely control the camera
with the right joystick, although we do provide some camera path in each room.
Transparency results from well-designed locations along each of these
pre-determined paths. Aesthetic comes from a pretty cool idea that we call an
alternate cam - it's another camera that a player can access at will that
delivers a different look at any given location, with an emphasis on visual
quality. And the fighting cam that we developed provides a very Hong-Kong movie
feel to the in-game battles.

Q: What other tricks did you use to give
the gamer the feeling of being a part of a movie or a book?

A: To give players the experience of really living this adventure, we worked
hard to tell the story in a compelling way - we set it in one place, in one day,
which is a classic storytelling mechanism. We also developed a dynamic loading
system so that there are no interruptions in the rhythm of the game - it gives a
real sense of being right there in the middle of the apocalypse.

We also worked to hide all of the video game
assets - they're still there, but they're a part of the universe and the story,
justified in context. For example, the booby traps (essential for a Prince of
Persia game) are part of a large defense system actually activated by the
player. Likewise, the reward system originated from a narrative place; game
design aspects were dealt with later.

Q: What special effects are you developing
to enhance the Persian settings that are emblematic of the Prince of Persia
series?

A: In general, we created a beautiful place to play, with amazing lighting
tricks, majestic architecture, and meticulous attention to details. We developed
a cloth system that allowed the artists to place draperies in the player's path,
which creates a very sensuous feeling, and a glow system that adds texture and
magic to the light. It's difficult to list everything we added to the game to
make it really sing!